Doctor Who: The Wishing Beast / The Vanity Box

Big Finish: Monthly Range #97

by Paul Magrs, Colin Baker (Narrator), Bonnie Langford (Narrator)

The Wishing Beast (A Three-Part Story)
What can it mean when the Doctor and Mel are drawn to an asteroid by a message from the strange, elderly Applewhite sisters? The travellers are promised that they will receive their dearest wishes when they enter the frozen forests of this benighted shard of a world. But the ghosts that haunt this place are desperate to warn the Doctor about the sisters' promises. Only the ghosts know the true nature of the legendary Wishing Beast.

The Vanity Box (A One-Part Story)
A strange beauty parlour has opened its doors for business in a dowdy Salford terrace circa 1965. Monsieur Coiffure is the talk of the street with his fabulous make-overs. When the Doctor arrives, however, he knows at once that there's been some unnatural titivation going on.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Time Travel

Audio CD

First published July 1, 2007

Reviews

[Polly Batchelor · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I knew this would happen some day but I just didn’t expect it to be today..."

[Shaun Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nonsensical, interesting, but ultimately failing in every way to keep me engaged. The three-part story winds up being a very poor set up for...

(SPOILERS)

the one part story which really has nothing to do with each other other than setting up a bootstrap paradox. Poorly. Paul Magrs is better than this, and quite frankly, Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford deserve better. For a more detailed review, visit www.travelingthevortex.com (episode #373)

[Gabriel Mero · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot darker than the previous releases, I think it worked well with Colin Baker's darker 6th Doctor. Both Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford did stupendously as per usual. I do think, on the whole, that Langford has better chemistry with Baker than she does with McCoy -- Sophie Aldred is undoubtedly McCoy's companion.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get annoyed whenever The Doctor says in other stories that ghosts aren't real, so this premise for The Wishing Beast seemed like it'd challenge that. The Vanity Box was just one part. Both stories are fine.

[Chrissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last part really sealed it for me. Having the monster cone back and the Doctor sending it to start the story all over again was a nice touch.

[freeze · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a very good 3.5!

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wishing Beast ****
The Vanity Box ****

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, not spectacular. Maybe my standards are higher than they used to be. The ending was a nice touch.

[Jamie Revell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it's by Paul Magrs, so you know it's going to be fairly weird. And so it is, with the Doctor and Mel being lured to a remote asteroid where there are strange goings on with a couple of dotty old ladies in a quite impossible landscape.

Strange as this is, it's not quite as bonkers as the short adventure "The Vanity Box" that rounds out the CD. (It's advertised as a separate story, but, honestly, you need to listen to the two together and in sequence). This is set in a terraced street in Salford, and no prizes for guessing which long-running British TV series it's taking the piss out of.

With a sinister alien presence attempting to take over a hairdressers', it's directly played as a slapstick comedy, acting as an effective counterpoint to the somewhat depressing (if well-acted) main feature. Taken together, the two stories are rather better than they might be on their own.

[Nicholas Whyte]

The Wishing Beast, which confronts Six and Mel with two mad old ladies and a collection of persecuted ghosts, really shouldn't work, but it does. Somehow the cast, which includes Jean Marsh as one of the mad old ladies, make Paul Magrs' script really zing. Great stuff.[return][return]The Vanity Box is a slightly humorous coda to The Wishing Beast, but the humour is based on the premise that old ladies from Salford sound a bit funny, and so does Colin Baker when he tries to imitate them. This turns out to be a rather weak premise.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

So there was a big gap of several weeks between when I listened to the Wishing Beast the Vanity Box. Having just listened to the Vanity Box I liked it more. I thought the Northern Ladies were quite amusing and it was a small funny adventure. The Wishing Beast I remember as being a bit of an odd mixture between funny and scary, not quite sure which it wanted to be. Mel was ok, if a tad dull. I definitely prefer him with Evelyn.

[Debra Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wishing Beast- The Doctor and Mel land and are told by old ladies that they were expected. Though it was Mel that was expected they were surprised why. They are to be fed to the Wishing Beast. Can the Doctor stop the beast and the sisters?

The Vanity Box- The Doctor and Mel land in 1965 to a town that has a salon that is aging women backwards. Can the Doctor stop the owner before he kills someone?

[Sara Habein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. I'm not overly familiar with the Sixth Doctor or Mel, but bought this because of Jean Marsh playing one of the baddies -- and she's great here. I think both the Sixth Doctor and Mel get a lot better writing/more to do in the audio adventures compared to their tumultuous time on the show.

The vacuum thing in this is a bit silly, but oh well. This is still a solid tale, and the bonus interviews are also interesting.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Doctor and Mel investigate the mysterious Wishing Beast on an isolated asteroid.

The Doctor investigates mysterious goings on at a beauty salon.

[Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two connected tales with Six and Mel.

[Christopher Hatch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite liked this one. Bit weird but I liked that the one part story was a continuation of the three part to some extent.

[Charles Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two short adventures with the 6th Doctor (Colin Baker) and Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford).